Abstract

A novel information hiding method based on double random-phase encoding (DRPE) and Rivest-Shamir-Adleman (RSA) public-key cryptosystem is proposed. In the proposed technique, the inherent diffusion property of DRPE is cleverly utilized to make up the diffusion insufficiency of RSA public-key cryptography, while the RSA cryptosystem is utilized for simultaneous transmission of the cipher text and the two phase-masks, which is not possible under the DRPE technique. This technique combines the complementary advantages of the DPRE and RSA encryption techniques and brings security and convenience for efficient information transmission. Extensive numerical simulation results are presented to verify the performance of the proposed technique.

Effect of occluding 25% image pixels on the encrypted image by RSA and the combined image: (a) 25% of the image pixels are occluded after it is directly encrypted by the RSA, (b) the decrypted image from (a), (c) 25% of the combined image pixels are occluded, (d) the recovered image from (c), (e) the recovered image when only a single phase-mask φ is used and 25% of the combined image pixels are occluded.

The decrypted secret images recovered from part of the input image pixels: (a), (b), and (c) 1/2, 3/4, and 7/8 of the input image pixels are occluded; (d), (e), and (f) are the decrypted images corresponding to (a), (b), and (c), respectively.